A Metairie apartment complex manager met a violent end Thursday morning after authorities say the relative of a tenant stabbed him to death and then knifed another employee who rushed to save him.

Rusty Costanza, The Times-PicayuneJefferson Parish Sheriff's Office employees gather evidence from a pickup truck near the scene of the stabbing death of the apartment manger of Cascades Apartments, 2200 block of N. Arnoult Road in Metairie on Thursday, September 8, 2011. According to Jefferson Parish Sheriff Newell Normand, emergency operators received a call at 9:30 a.m. of a stabbing in the 2212 N. Arnoult Road. The truck was driven by a maintenance man who was stabbed and seriously injured trying to stop the attack.

Authorities aren't yet sure what set suspect Albert Green, 48, on his alleged murderous rampage, but he was taken into custody at a fast food restaurant in Hammond about six hours after the stabbings, according to Col. John Fortunato, spokesman for the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office. He will be booked with second-degree murder and attempted second-degree murder.

Colwart was in stable condition Thursday afternoon at LSU Interim Medical Center in New Orleans, according to his wife, Kerry Colwart, 38. Despite almost losing his own life, she said her husband was upset that he'd been unable to prevent the death of his friend and co-worker, known by residents as Mr. Charlie.

"He's more worried about what he could have done," Kerry Colwart said. "I keep telling him there's nothing he could have done."

JPSOAlbert Green was arrested in Hammond for stabbing and killing a Metairie apartment manager and injuring a maintenance worker who tried to break up the attack.

The attack occurred sometime before 9:30 a.m. during an argument between Dilapi and Green in the leasing office, located in the center courtyard adjacent to the pool, according Sheriff Newell Normand. Kerry Colwart, who spoke with her husband about the incident, said Dilapi was confronting Green about sleeping underneath an outdoor stairwell in the complex Wednesday night, instead of in his relative's apartment.

Resident Joe Ness, 74, overheard part of the argument that morning on his way out to do laundry. Though he didn't see the exchange, Ness said he recognized Dilapi's voice arguing loudly with a second man around 9 a.m.

Kerry Colwart said her husband was returning from an errand when he overheard a rustling coming from the leasing office.

"He walked in on Mr. Charlie getting stabbed over and over again," she said.

Green grabbed the keys to Dilapi's red, 2006 Mazda 6 and tried to run, but Mark Colwart wasn't going to let that happen. Kerry Colwart said her husband, though stabbed during the confronation, chased Green around the pool and through the complex's parking lot, jumping into his own Chevrolet pick-up truck after Green got into the Mazda, she said.

"My husband, with blood gushing everywhere, was not going to let him try and flee," Kerry Colwart said.

Mark Colwart crashed his truck into an iron gate just across the street from the apartment complex parking lot, presumably too injured to go any farther.

"He couldn't chase him anymore," Kerry Colwart said.

Stunned residents stood around outside the apartments Thursday morning as homicide investigators used yellow crime scene tape to cordon off both the leasing office and the area where Mark Colwart's truck crashed. Standing within view of the truck was Dilapi's girlfriend of five years, Brandy Heigle, 31. She and other friends were comforted by a Sheriff's Office chaplain.

"He was a very sweet, kind-hearted man," said Heigle, who lived with Dilapi in Kenner.

She said Dilapi had managed the apartment complex for several years. He headed up an assisted living center before that and had also worked in human resources for several local restaurant chains. Heigle said Dilapi is originally from New York, then relocated to New Orleans where he started a family. He is survived by two sons. Neither was available for comment on Thursday.

Friends of both Mark Colwart and Dilapi said the staffers at the Cascades considered one another family. Mark Colwart, a father of two children, was friendly to everyone, said residents. Kerry Colwart said she isn't surprised her husband risked his life to save someone else.

"That's just like Mark. He would have done it for anybody, but especially for Charley," she said.

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Michelle Hunter can be reached at mhunter@timespicayune.com or 504.883.7054.